Part B: Chapter 23

“Jemila?” Ivan said when he saw me. He looked shocked, then surprised and finally happy.

I had been watching him train for the past thirty minutes and it honestly felt good to be back in the training room. This was the place where Ivan and I would spend countless hours of him training me while Aidan was gone and it seemed like the best place to come to with how things were going with Aidan. I just needed to clear my mind and I found myself here.

I smiled as I pushed off the walk I had been leaning on and walked over to meet him halfway. Ivan pulled me into a warm embrace, one that I hadn’t realised just how much I had missed.

“I missed you so much,” he said once we pulled away from each other, his hands still on my shoulders. “It just didn’t feel right training without you and I cannot even imagine the horrors you went through at Sean;s hands.”

“Actually, he wasn’t the one who kidnapped me. It was Lila.”

Ivan scowled as realisation seemed to dawn on him. “That psychotic Lila? The one who was supposed to be Aidan’s mate because of politics?” he asked, his eyes drawn together in what appeared to be confusion. “Damn, I knew she was psychotic, I just never thought she would do something as stupid as that.”

“I didn’t even know about the arranged marriage until she nearly had her men kill me,” I replied with a sigh, taking a step back from Ivan’s hold. “I really missed you too, I had no one to train with.”

That made Ivan laugh, “don’t worry, you have me again and I promise not to go easy on you.”

“I wouldn’t want it any other way.

We walked back to where Ivan had been training and the men that were there all cleared out which I found strange and uncalled for because they always did that even before I had been kidnapped and I always met to ask why but never got to doing it.

”Why is it that every time I’m here everyone leaves? Am I that hideous to look at?”

Ivan spun around and gave a good shake. “Don’t be ridiculous, you are far from hideous and those guys always leave because they know you’re Aidan’s mate and they don’t want to get on his bad side. Trust me, no one does,” he said the last part to himself but I heard it loud and clear.

“Why? So we can’t train together or something?”

“Trust me, they would love to do that but until you are officially Luna, every male has to stay within a five mile radius of you except me, Carter and Gerald though I think he’s also on the list of those who ought to stay away from you after last time.”

It was unbelievable, didn’t he trust me enough to allow me to be around other males? I truly had no idea where I stood with him and that pissed me off. Why was he always doing such things and then never having the audacity to tell me to my face? It was like the night he decided to leave after we had such a great night, he was a coward then and he was a coward now.

“Well then, looks like I have some pent up anger I would like to get out of my system. What do you say, up for a little sparring?” I asked, taking off my jacket and tossing it to the ground. I had no idea whether sparring with Ivan was what I needed but I didn’t care, I was willing to take my chances.

“I’ll go easy on you since you probably haven’t been training and then in the next one we can go full out. How does that sound?”

“Fine, let’s do this.”

Ivan chuckled as he took his fighting stance and I followed suit. I still remembered some of the things that he had taught me. I gently lowered my knees and folded my arms into fits as I swelled slowly from side to side.

“Remember your training, take any open chances you see and don’t hesitate, hesitation will get you killed in a battle,” Ivan shouted, instructing me the same way he used to as we circled each other. “If you’re worried about me, don’t. I can do it.”

I watched his feet and when I saw my chance, I took it as he had instructed but he was expecting my punch and dodged it.

“Too slow, remember, speed is your friend when you are going up against someone bigger and more experienced than you,” he instructed and threw a punch at me which landed on my cheek and I stumbled back.

I was glad that he was going easy on me otherwise that would have seriously hurt. My eyes narrowed as I watched him and finally found an opening. I went for it and managed to land a blow on him which made him nod in approval.

We kept going at it until he finally called it a day, I was sweating like crazy and I could feel my heart beating fast. The adrenaline rush felt invigorating and I missed doing things like this.

“That wasn’t so bad for someone who hasn’t practised in a long time,” Ivan said as he threw a towel in my direction and I caught it with ease. “Keep that up and you’ll be on your way to do great things kid.”

I rolled my eyes and used the towel to wipe myself. “That’s because I have the best teacher.”

“You know it,” he said smugly and walked to the fridge where he pulled out two water bottles then came back and handed me one. “Mind if I ask you something”
“Sure, what is it?”

Ivan looked around then leaned in closer. “What happened that day? I mean after I left you because I felt ashamed of what I had done in the library.”

I bit my bottom and thought back to that day. So much had happened since then, some good and some I wished I could take back. “I honestly don’t know, Shelly came over and then everything after that until Sean got me out of there.” As the last words left my mouth I already regretted it but there was no taking it back now.

“Wait, Sean helped you. Interesting.”

Interesting indeed, if only he knew exactly what had happened then I was sure he would never want to associate with me again. “Yep but he just made me his prisoner too so nothing actually changed.”

“Care for a walk?” Ivan asked, that familiar smile on his face while his hair was plastered across his forehead.

“Leave us,” came Aidan’s voice and both of us snapped our heads in the direction it had come from.

Ivan bowed his head and quickly rushed out of there. My body froze as Aidan walked slowly towards me.